


whoever has learned to listen to trees

by gloriousmonsters



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, I don't know what qualifies as fluff and at this point I'm afraid to ask, crossposting old tumblr fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 14:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17747717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriousmonsters/pseuds/gloriousmonsters
Summary: For the first time Kinoe sees Konoha, and some of the legacy his predecessor left behind.





	whoever has learned to listen to trees

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of quasi-fluff written for a birthday on Tumblr a while ago, which I finally decided to crosspost.

A few days after training begins, Kinoe gets up the nerve to ask whether anything Hashirama created is still around—he’s been studying every tree he sees, but he doesn’t know if he would recognize one of the First Hokage’s trees if he saw it.

In answer, Danzo takes him into Konoha.

 

It’s the first time Kinoe’s been in the main village—the streets are bright and loud and full of people, and the sky arches up overhead so bright and blue and immense it’s almost terrifying. Danzo lets Kinoe cling to the edge of the dark coat he wears, only stopping and separating his hands from it when they reach their destination—a small patch of green ground with a bench or two and one great tree, in the middle of a quieter neighborhood.

“I did not see it for myself,” Danzo says, “but my father told me that he grew this tree, shortly after the village’s construction began—it was at a celebration. A symbol of the village itself, hope of how it would grow.”

He waits until Kinoe walks around the trunk to see how wide it is, presses his hands against the bark and looks up at the height with wondering eyes; then takes his shoulder gently and turns him to face the houses around them. “And these,” he says. “He created these houses. If you look carefully, they’re practically seamless…”

Kinoe listens, and learns—some are rooted, but after it became clear those needed to be trimmed and took time and care to train, restrict to their proper shape, they built foundations first and Hashirama would weave the house on top of them, not allow it to take root. The first permanent house he created was on the spur of the moment - desire to make a fitting shelter for the Lady Mito, then a young ambassador just arrived from Uzushiogakure. It’s the most Kinoe’s ever heard Danzo speak at one time, so he stays quiet and tries to see how long it can last.

When it does end, he presses his back to the tree and tilts his head up. The leaves seem to go up forever over him, but the solidity of the tree keeps his fear of the spaces above at bay.

“I’ll be able to do things like this someday?”

“I believe so.” Danzo’s watching him when Kinoe looks back down—something in his eyes Kinoe can’t quite identify. “Before your survival,” he adds, “I was becoming certain there was no hope for finding someone who could hold the First Hokage’s power. There had been too many failures.”

Kinoe’s not sure of what to say. “You have a father?” he finally asks—he’s wanted to for several minutes, although a moment too late it occurs to him he maybe shouldn’t.

Danzo looks in another direction—toward the cliff in the distance. “I had a father, yes. He died long ago, when I was a few years older than you.”

In all honesty, Kinoe doesn’t know what age he is, but he decides this is the wrong time to bring it up. “I don’t remember my father,” he offers. “Or if I even had one.”

The sunlight is beginning to slant low over the roofs; Danzo squints against it, then turns back to face Kinoe. “Are you curious about him?”

Kinoe considers, then shakes his head. The time before the green-filtered light of the tank was still so seamlessly empty there was not even a sensation of loss. Besides—

“Good.” Danzo broke into Kinoe’s thoughts; he’s scanning the area around them as if he senses something Kinoe doesn’t, although he doesn’t look as if he feels an overt threat.  “We should be starting back.”

Kinoe nodded. He refrains from grabbing the edge of Danzo’s coat this time, but still sticks close to his side, wary of the sky. It’s sad to leave the quiet grandeur of the tree behind them, but he’s looking forward to returning to the safety of Root’s corridors.

Besides, he thinks. Besides, he already has everything he needs.


End file.
